Serbia to be CERN Associate Member
The CERN Council unanimously voted to admit the Republic of Serbia as an Associate Member State of CERN, during their 161st council meeting, on 16 December last year. The final step in this process will involve the signature of the related agreement, and ratification by the Serbian Parliament. Following a five year maximum period of Associate Membership, the council will decide on the admission of Serbia to full membership.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome Serbia back into the family,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “Serbia’s Associate Membership is good for CERN and good for Serbia, giving CERN access to Serbian scientific expertise, while Serbian science and industry will benefit from access to one of the world’s leading centres for science and innovation.”
Serbia has had a long running relationship with CERN. Then Yugoslavia, the country was a founding Member State of CERN in 1954, and remained such until 1961. Since then, Serbian physicists have remained active within CERN, notably participating in the DELPHI experiment in the 1980-90s, and presently in the ISOLDE facility and grid computing endeavours.
Serbia formally re-joined CERN in 2001, by means of a co-operation agreement, taking part in both the ATLAS and CMS experiments – in particular assisting in the construction of both detectors.
“This is indeed a most welcome ‘comeback’ to CERN, as a part of Serbia’s effort to contribute to a leading scientific multicultural institution,” said Serbia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Office, Uglješa Zvekić. “This is an invitation for the Serbian scientific community to invest even more in research and innovation. We are all confident that Serbia will stand up to this opportunity.”
The European Physical Society also has had a long-running relationship with Serbia – with the Serbian Physical Society having been a member of the EPS since 2007. Prior to this, Yugoslavia was also a member society, having been admitted in 2001.
